The invention relates to a bandwidth on demand subscriber system.
For purposes of accessing the Internet, a computer user may subscribe to a broadband service, such as a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or a satellite service, as examples. Current broadband services offer several bandwidth options for the subscriber. Each option typically has a fixed price and is associated with a maximum, or allocated, bandwidth, and the higher the allocated bandwidth, the higher the price of the subscription. The above-described billing arrangement may lead a subscriber to pay for more service than the subscriber actually uses on a regular basis, as the allocated bandwidth is fixed when the subscriber connects to the service, and changing the subscription option between connections may involve a lengthy upgrade/downgrade process.
As an example, an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) service typically has several bandwidth options, such as an option that provides up to a 128 kilobytes per second (kb/s) bandwidth for uploads and up to a 384 kb/s bandwidth for downloads. Another higher bandwidth option may be, for example, an option that provides up to a 1.5 Megabyte/second (Mb/s) bandwidth for uploads and up to a 7.1 Mb/s bandwidth for downloads. Even with the different options, a subscriber may pay for more service than the subscriber actually needs. For example, a subscriber may need only a 128 Kb/s upload bandwidth allocation and a 384 Kb/s download bandwidth allocation most of the time and may need higher bandwidth allocations infrequently. However, the subscriber may still subscribe to a more expensive option that has higher bandwidth allocations to reserve the additional bandwidth for the few times in which the additional bandwidth is needed.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an arrangement that addresses one or more of the problems that are stated above.
In an embodiment of the invention, a method includes establishing a connection between a network service provider subsystem and a client subsystem. The connection has an allocated bandwidth. During the connection, a request is received from the client subsystem to increase the allocated bandwidth, and during the connection, the allocated bandwidth is selectively increased in response to request.
In another embodiment of the invention, a system includes a client subsystem and a network service provider subsystem that is coupled to the client subsystem. The network service provider subsystem is adapted to establish a connection between the network service provider subsystem and the client subsystem. The connection has an allocated bandwidth. The network service provider subsystem is further adapted to during the connection, receive a request from the client subsystem to increase the allocated bandwidth and selectively increase the allocated bandwidth in response to the request during the connection.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, a system includes a network provider subsystem and a client subsystem. The client subsystem is adapted to establish a connection with the network provider subsystem. A network is coupled to the network provider subsystem and the client subsystem. The network is adapted to establish an allocated bandwidth of the connection; during the connection, receive a request from the network provider subsystem to increase the allocated bandwidth; and during the connection, selectively increase the allocated bandwidth in response to the request.